Positive Psychology: A Seven-Day Unit Plan for High School Psychology
By: Amy C. Fineburg
Homewood High School
Birmingham, Alabama AFineburg@hoover.k12.al.us
Edited by: Charles L. Brewer
Furman University
Greenville, South Carolina
Some portions of this document have been removed, due to concerns about posting certain intellectual property on the Internet. To obtain a complete version of this document, please contact Amy Fineburg at:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Procedural Timeline
Content Outline
Activities
Critical Thinking Activities
Instructor's Note for Using Activities
Activity 2.1: Daily Mood Form
Activity 3.1: Satisfaction with Life Scale
Activity 4.1: Creating Flow Experiences
Activity 5.1: Measuring Optimism
Activity 5.2: Imagining Your Future: The Hope Scale
Activity 6.1: A Beautiful Day: Applying Principles of Positive Psychology
Activity 6.2: Pleasurable vs. Philanthropic Activities - Which Brings More Happiness?
Suggested Reading
References
PROCEDURAL TIMELINE
Lesson One: Positive Psychology: A New Perspective on Human Behavior
Critical Thinking Exercise A
Lesson Two: Positive Subjective Experiences - A General Overview
Activity 2.1 - Daily Mood Form
Transparency Master A - Wealth & Well-being
Positive Subjective Experiences of the Past
Activity 3.1 - The Satisfaction with Life Scale
Lesson Three: Positive Subjective Experiences of the Present
Activity 4.1 Creating Flow Experiences
Critical Thinking Exercises B & C
Transparency Master B - Graphical Representation of Flow
Transparency Master C - Activities that Require Skill and Challenge
Transparency Master D - Activities that DO NOT Require Skill and Challenge
Lesson Four: Positive Subjective Experiences of the Future
Activity 5.1 - Measuring Optimism
Activity 5.2 - Exploring Your Future: The Hope Scale
Critical Thinking Exercises D
Lesson Five: The Good Life: Defining Character by Applying Positive Psychology
Activity 6.1 - A Beautiful Day: Applying Positive Psychology
Activity 6.2 - Pleasurable vs. Philanthropic Activities: Which Brings More Happiness?
Critical Thinking Exercise E & F
CONTENT OUTLINE
I. Positive Psychology: A New Perspective on Human Behavior
A. Psychology's focus before World War II was threefold:
1. Curing mental illness
2. Making the lives of all people more fulfilling
3. Identifying and nurturing high talent
B. After the war, psychology's focus shifted to curing mental illness and has been largely successful.
1. According to Seligman (as cited in Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), 14 different disorders have been identified and can be successfully treated.
2. The DSM-IV is a helpful tool for psychologists in identifying and treating mental disorders.
C. As society becomes wealthier and healthier, we might expect that people would become happier and more fulfilled, but this is not the case.
1. 15 to 20% of people in the U.S. will fall prey to severe depression, and about half will experience a milder form of depression at some point in life (Saroyan, 1998).
2. Today's average age of onset of depression is 15 years old, compared to 30 years old many years ago (McGuire, 1998).
D. Positive Psychology seeks to refocus the science of psychology toward the other two goals.
1. Definition of Positive Psychology - the scientific study of optimal human functioning. It aims to discover and promote factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive (Sheldon, Frederickson, Rathunde, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
2. Goal of Positive Psychology - to consider optimal human functioning at several levels, including biological, experiential, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global. To accomplish this, studying the following is necessary:
a. the dynamic relationships among the processes in the levels listed above
b. the human ability to create order and meaning in response to inevitable adversity
c. the means by which "the good life" may emerge from these processes (Sheldon, Frederickson, Rathunde, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)
E. Positive Psychology seeks to understand and encourage factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish.
Critical Thinking Exercise A
I. Positive Subjective Experience - A General Overview
A. Positive subjective experiences indicate the degree to which people are achieving a goal based on what they believe to be important.
For example, if people value making straight As in high school, then doing so will result in positive feelings about themselves and those around them. Not doing so will result in negative feelings toward ourselves and those around us. The same can be said for anything of value - volunteer work, fixing up old cars, yard work, one's job, making mom and dad proud, and so on.
B. Several factors influence the extent of positive subjective experiences:
1. Temperament - the inborn qualities that determine how well people interact with the environment.
2. Learned positive outlook on life - People learn optimism and hope through experience. Also, people achieve greater life satisfaction when they work for things they value rather than merely for things that bring immediate pleasure.
3. Strongly held important values and goals related to these values - People who have clear goals and make progress working toward them report higher levels of subjective well-being.
4. Cultural differences - Although income level predicts positive experience, so do cultural differences.
For example, Latin cultures report higher levels of well-being than one might predict from their incomes. Also, psychological measures, such as self-esteem, more accurately predict positive subjective experience in individualistic cultures (United States or Western European cultures) than in collectivist ones (Japanese or communist-based cultures).
5. Age - People's age brings a wealth of perspective and experience that colors how they view life situations.
For example, older people tend to view illness as being a part of the normal aging process than younger people. They have more confidence in their ability to deal with the problem and prefer a greater quality of life to mere survival (Williamson, 2000).
C. Understanding the sources of positive subjective experience lead to better individuals and societies. People who have positive subjective experiences often
1. contribute more to their communities
2. have better relationships with others
3. are more creative in some realms
4. excel in sports and academics
5. provide leadership
6. are models for others
7. propose new ideas in terms of science, business, and other life arenas
8. help others
9. are less of a drain (relative to those without such positive experiences) on psychological and physical health systems
Activity 2.1 - Daily Mood Form
II. Positive Subjective Experiences of the Past
A. Well-being - the pervasive sense that life has been and is good. It is an ongoing perception that this time in one's life, or even life as a whole, is fulfilling, meaningful, and pleasant (Myers, 1993).
1. Dynamic Equilibrium Theory - Well-being remains relatively consistent over the life span due to personality, although current events in people's lives can either raise or lower well-being temporarily (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999).
2. People who have a high sense of well-being tend to be extraverts, optimists, and worry free.
3. The types of goals people have determine how much well-being they are experiencing with life in general.
a. Intrinsic goals are positively correlated with well-being.
b. Extrinsic goals are negatively correlated with well-being.
4. Contrary to popular belief, well-being does not rise when income rises.
a. Wealth does not mean well-being - According to University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart (as cited in Myers, 1993), people from wealthier countries report higher levels of well-being than those in poorer countries on average, but levels of well-being differ from country to country. West Germans average twice as much personal income as those of the Irish, but the Irish report being happier. The same can be seen with the wealthier French as compared to their Belgian neighbors.
b. Within countries, the richer are not always happier. Living in abject poverty does not promote happiness, but having more than one needs has little effect on one's well-being. Diener and colleagues (Diener, Horowitz and Emmons, 1985) interviewed 49 of the wealthiest Americans as listed by Forbes magazine and found them to be only slightly happier than average.
5. Health does not correlate with well-being. How people view their health depends on their emotional state and objective measures of their health from doctors (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999).
a. People generally need a basic level of health wherein pain does not interfere with activities (Williamson, 1998).
b. People with high levels of well-being and hope usually return to normal levels of well-being after unpleasant diagnoses of illness (Synder, 2000).
c. The exception to this rule is for people with multiple disabling conditions. Although their well-being goes up after initial diagnosis, they usually do not return to normal levels of well-being that were present before diagnosis.
B. Satisfaction - the feeling that one has accomplished a goal during a certain period of time.
1. As long as people feel their goals are being reached somehow, satisfaction remains unaffected. Although the ultimate goal may be high, even small achievements can foster feelings of satisfaction.
2. People use social comparison to determine how well they are achieving satisfaction with life.
a. Adaptation-level principle - our satisfaction is relative to our prior experience. People tend to compare their present levels of satisfaction with past experiences. When situations change for the better or worse in relation to perceived goals, levels of satisfaction are affected.
For example: Students who receive a higher grade than expected both feel good and praise the teacher; whereas those who receive a lower grade than expected both feel lousy and trash the teacher. Thus, a B grade could mean something quite different to the student who expected an F as compared to a student who expected an A, thus changing levels of satisfaction with the class (Snyder and Clair, 1976).
b. Relative deprivation principle - our happiness is relative to others' attainment of happiness. How happy or frustrated people feel depends on with whom they are compared. People readily identify others as being rich or beautiful, but rarely believe themselves to be so.
For example: To one making $10,000 a year, $50,000 seems like wealth, but to one making $500,000 a year, $1,000,000 seems like wealth.
Transparency Master A - Wealth & Well-Being - The United States
Activity 3.1 - The Satisfaction with Life Scale
III. Positive Subjective Experiences of the Present
A. Flow - a state of optimal experience. Flow activities are done for the sake of doing them and not for extrinsic rewards.
1. Qualities of flow experiences include:
a. Attention that is freely invested and centered on achieving goals - Choosing to spend time in activities and working toward goals encourages flow.
b. The lack of psychological disorder - When people experience psychic entropy, they tend to lose flow. Psychic entropy is information that conflicts with existing intentions or that distracts people from carrying out intentions (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). The less stress and distraction, the greater the opportunity for flow.
c. Merging action and awareness - Fully concentrating on an activity that requires all of one's relevant skills produces flow. People in flow situations describe themselves as being so focused on the activity that they do not notice distractions that come along.
d. Challenges that require skill - Without the need for skill in an activity, it becomes meaningless.
For Example: For those who are not skilled at analyzing English literature, reading a novel by Dickens seems boring and pointless. However, to the expert, such a novel contains nuances that are both exciting and meaningful.
e. Clear goals and feedback - Goals must be clear, attainable, and meaningful, and feedback must be immediate if flow is to be experienced.
For Example: The tennis player knows his goal is to hit the ball over the net successfully, even aiming at certain spots to increase the challenge. However, a person whose goal is to watch TV all day usually doesn't experience flow because the goal is ambiguous (how long is "all day"?) and is not challenging or meaningful.
f. The lack of worry about losing control of the situation - Although people in flow situations are usually engaging in activities that could lead to failure, they often do not fear it because they believe they possess the necessary skill to accomplish the goal. There are two types of "dangers" people experience in flow situations:
i. Objective dangers - unpredictable physical events that one can prepare for in advance.
For Example: Rock climbers can prepare for a sudden storm, avalanches, and so on, that are objective dangers.
ii. Subjective dangers - dangers that arise from a person's lack of skill that are overcome through discipline and preparation.
For Example: Rock climbers who lack the experience to determine their limits (physical and psychological) should gradually take on more challenging climbs to gain this skill.
i. The transformation of time - Time seems to slip away without notice. During flow experiences, what one perceives as a short period of time usually becomes hours without a second thought.
j. The loss of self-consciousness - People in flow experiences are not worried about the perceptions of others or feelings of inadequacy. Remember that attention is so concentrated that there is no room for such distractions.
2. Enjoyment vs. Pleasure - a big difference
a. Pleasure - the good feeling that comes from satisfying homeostatic needs like hunger. Feelings of pleasure are usually temporary.
b. Enjoyment - good feelings people experience when they are challenged beyond homeostatic pursuits. Enjoyable experiences produce flow.
3. Microflow activities are those engaged during boring or tedious activities.
For Example: During a boring lecture, a student may doodle intricate designs in the margins of her notebook. This activity provides sufficient challenge to the student but does not distract her to the point that she cannot pay attention when the lecturer begins to discuss something of interest.
4. Areas in which flow is experienced:
a. Work - attempting to transform mind-numbing jobs into meaningful challenges promotes work as a flow experience.
For Example: Assembly-line workers may set hourly production goals for themselves and try to beat those goals throughout the day. Each new goal requires more and more skill to accomplish.
b. Hobbies/Leisure Activities - The more involving of time and energy a leisure activity is, the more enjoyable.
For Example: Socializing with friends is more enjoyable than watching TV.
B. Happiness
1. People tend to report themselves as happy. One third of Americans say they are very happy, with only one in ten saying they are "not too happy." Most describe themselves as being "pretty happy." Some possible explanations for these levels of happiness:
a. Tendency to be agreeable - People over-report good things. This phenomenon can be seen in survey research with people exhibiting social desirability - the desire to look good for others. Also, demand characteristics come into play when people want to give the researchers what they think they are looking for.
b. People's momentary moods - In positive moods, people view the world with a "rose-colored mirror" in that they are positive in viewing themselves but are less benign in their views of others (Sigmon and Snyder, 1993). In negative moods, people see the world as being ugly, depressing, and hostile.
2. Qualities of happy people include
a. Self-esteem - Self-esteem is a self-referential mood that reflects one's appraisal of success or failure in important life goal pursuits. People who believe themselves to be relatively competent report being happier, thus they do not just "feel good about themselves," but "feel good about themselves for having just succeeded." However, high, unwarranted self-esteem can lead to problems such as divorce and violence.
b. Personal control - People who have a sense of personal control in their lives are happier.
c. Optimism - People who believe bad situations are not their fault, do not always interfere with life, and do not permeate into all aspects of life are happier.
d. Extraversion - Extraverts are more involved with people, have a larger circle of friends, engage more often in rewarding activities, experience more affection, and have more social support. Extraverts tend to be more cheerful and high-spirited as well.
e. Hope - People who exhibit high levels of hope tend to be happier as they pursue goals and challenges.
Activity 4.1: Creating Flow Experiences
Transparency Master B - Graphical Representation of Flow
Transparency Master C & D - Activities that Require and DO NOT Require Skill and Challenge
Critical Thinking Exercises B & C
IV. Positive Subjective Experiences of the Future
A. Optimism - The belief that bad events are temporary, are not one's own fault, and that are confined to present circumstances.
1. Explanatory style - the habitual way of explaining bad events. Three qualities of explanatory style that determine optimism or pessimism are
a. Permanence - The belief that bad events that happen will always be there to affect life. Optimists resist this belief and see bad events as temporary. However, optimists feel that good events have more permanent causes.
b. Pervasiveness - The belief that failure in one area translates to all other areas of life. Optimists explain failure as being specific to one situation rather than universal in their entire lives. Again, however, good events tend to be explained as being pervasive throughout people's lives if they are optimists.
c. Personalization - The belief that bad events are one's own fault rather than due to circumstances. Optimists believe failures are not their own fault but rather due to circumstances. But once again for optimists, good events are due to strengths rather than external circumstances.
2. Seligman (1998) warns that too much optimism can erode a sense of responsibility. Although one should not attribute all events to external causes, those who are depressed should work to change their explanatory styles to reflect the qualities of optimism.
3. Overcoming Pessimism - Two techniques can be used to deal with pessimistic thoughts, although one works better in the long run than the other.
a. Distraction - trying to think of something else besides the pessimistic belief. People may try to shift their attention to another thought or schedule time later to think over the negative belief. This technique is better when action needs to be immediate and succumbing to negative thoughts can be destructive.
For Example: A police officer goes into a dangerous situation with unknown elements (do the people have guns?). The officer begins to think, "I could get killed," and she begins to hesitate. Without distracting herself from these thoughts somehow, the officer could be killed for her hesitation.
b. Disputation - arguing with oneself about pessimistic beliefs. Going on the offensive against pessimistic thoughts can help to change reactions from being dejected to being optimistic.
i. Distancing - Realizing that negative thoughts are usually unfounded can help people realize how destructive pessimism can be. We would never tolerate insults about ourselves from others, so why do we take them from ourselves?
ii. Evidence - Checking for evidence that disproves pessimistic beliefs is an effective way to combat them.
iii. Alternatives - When disputing pessimistic beliefs, look for all the possible reasons for the situation. Usually, situations have many explanations, yet pessimists focus on the most harmful and defeating one. Realizing the other alternatives can give a sense of the changeable, specific, and nonpersonal causes for outcomes.
iv. Decatastrophizing - What if the negative belief is correct? Understanding that all possible implications for the belief are not "the end of the world" can ease the suffering the belief can cause.
B. Hope - the overall perception that one's goals can be met.
1. According to Snyder (2000), hope has three necessary ingredients:
a. Goal-oriented thoughts - All nonrandom human behaviors are directed by some goal, either short-term or long-term.
i. Goals need to be of sufficient value to the individual so as to occupy conscious thought.
ii. Goals should be attainable yet uncertain in nature - goals that are 100% likely to be achieved do not give people hope.
b. Pathways to achievement - In order to achieve goals, people need to generate plausible routes to achieve goals.
i. This type of thought process begins in infancy when cause and effect relationships are first being understood. Children see that certain actions influence events that occur.
ii. Singular or multiple pathways need to be generated. In fact, alternative pathways should be generated when obstacles are faced.
iii. Those with the highest levels of hope tend to generate multiple pathways to goal achievement.
c. Agency thoughts - In this motivational component to hope, people believe that they can initiate and sustain the pathways to goal achievement.
i. This type of thought begins after 1 year of age when children realize they are actors who can influence their environment and initiate cause-and-effect relationships.
ii. The emphasis here is on thinking and not emotions, which are a by-product of hope.
a. Positive emotions equal perceived success in achieving goals.
b. Negative emotions equal perceived failure in achieving goals.
2. In studies, hope has been linked to higher academic and athletic performance, better adjustment, and better coping with health issues.
a. Performance - Hope is linked to higher standardized achievement test scores but not to scores on intelligence tests.
i. Higher hope and higher GPA are positively correlated.
ii. According to Curry (as cited in Snyder, 2000), higher hope and increased athletic performance are positively correlated.
b. Adjustment - The level of hope people have is related to their perceptions about themselves and their goals.
i. People with higher levels of hope remember more positive comments and events about themselves, whereas people with lower levels remember more negative comments and events.
ii. People with higher levels of hope feel challenged by goals, whereas people with lower levels feel demoralized by goals.
iii. People with higher levels of hope have higher feelings of self-worth.
c. Health - Higher levels of hope are correlated with better coping skills and higher levels of pain tolerance.
i. For spinal cord injury patients and adolescent burn survivors, those with higher levels of hope showed better coping with the problem, less depression, fewer harmful-to-recovery behaviors, and interacted better with caregivers.
ii. Using a cold-pressor test, Snyder and Brown (in Snyder, 2000) found that higher hope correlated positively with less perceived pain and greater endurance for pain.
iii. For cancer patients, higher hope was related to greater knowledge and better coping with the disease.
Activity 5.1 - Measuring Optimism
Activity 5.2 - Exploring Your Future: The Hope Scale
Critical Thinking Exercises D
V. The Good Life: Defining Character by Applying Positive Subjective Experiences
A. People's character refers to the enduring effects of life experiences on the human psyche (as cited in McCullough and Snyder, 2000). The qualities below that define "the good life" enrich our lives, make them worth living, and promote strong character. The hallmarks of positive subjective experiences are integrated throughout areas of our lives.
B. Connections outward involve interactions with others that enhance life experiences.
1. Love and intimacy - meaningful relationships, including friendships that involve loving and being loved
2. Satisfying work/occupation - being committed to a vocation and valued through it
3. Helping others (altruism) - helping and being helped and supported
4. Good citizenship - participating in activities that have public benefit and being respected in the public arena
5. Spirituality - connection to a deeper meaning or reality
6. Forgiveness - the ability to reconcile with those who offend and avoid retaliatory aggression against the offender (McCullough, 2000).
7. Leadership - supporting the growth of those younger who will be the future leaders
C. Individual qualities include those that are enduring and meaningful.
1. Integrity and ethics - living up to the principles and dreams of life
2. Creativity/originality - using information in a unique way or creating new avenues of information
3. Play - having a sense of fun and humor
4. Subjective well-being - the pervasive sense that life has been and is good
5. Courage - being unafraid of death, being able to overcome obstacles, and being willing to take risks based on principles
6. Humility - the accurate assessment of abilities and achievements where mistakes and limitations can be recognized. Usually humility entails an ability to accept new ideas and advice while maintaining a low self-focus and the appreciation of the value of all things (Tangney, 2000).
D. Life Regulation qualities involve those that guide day-to-day life.
. Purposeful future-mindedness - pursuit of personal ideals and goals
2. Individuality - integration of personality traits into a unified and distinct whole
3. Self-control - the ability to alter one's states and responses, a key to the adaptation process (Baumeister and Exline, 2000).
4. Wisdom - capstone of the good life; the ability to navigate the issues and pragmatics of life
Critical Thinking Exercise E & F
Activity 6.1 - A Beautiful Day: Applying Positive Psychology
Activity 6.2 - Pleasurable vs. Philanthropic Activities - Which Brings More Happiness?
Activities
I. Critical Thinking Activities
Directions - Write a minimum one-page paper discussing the following questions. Bring those papers to class for discussion.
A. How important is it to study positive human qualities? Should the same amount of attention and funding be given to positive qualities as for negative qualities (illness)? What advantages could be gained from the study of positive qualities?
B. In what type of situation/activity have you experienced flow? Write down how you felt during that experience. Did your flow experience match the qualities discussed? In what ways?
C. Why do people choose pleasurable experiences over enjoyable ones? Hypothesize the reasons.
D. As you plan for your future in college and then in the career world, what do you envision yourself doing with your life? What is your primary concern as you decide which career to choose? Why? Do you plan to choose a service-oriented career? Why or why not? If not, do you plan to engage in philanthropic activities?
E. What is the difference between pleasurable and philanthropic activities? To what extent does each make you happy? From which do you personally derive the most happiness? Why?
F. Describe the most creative thing you have ever done. Why did you consider it creative?
Instructor's Note: These questions could be used as a journal assignment that continues throughout the unit, as essay questions for tests, or as individual assignments.
II. Classroom Demonstrations and Activities
Instructor's Note: Several of these activities call for students to write reflective papers detailing their experiences with each particular concept addressed. With the popularity of portfolio assessment, instructors may wish to have students compile these papers into a "Positive Psychology Portfolio" to be turned in at the end of the unit. Discussion of each activity can take place during the unit, but papers can be submitted at the end of the unit to save time and prevent an overload of papers to grade. In addition, many of the activities require students to assess life goals and interests, and students can keep their portfolios as a reference of these goals and interests throughout their college years.
Activity 2.1: Daily Mood Form
Ed Diener, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Randy Larson
Concept: To assess the content of a person's emotional life, researchers have sometimes asked volunteers to keep a record of their daily experiences for weeks or even months. With this information, how much positive and negative affect people experience can be determined, and these areas correlate with overall positive subjective experiences studied in this unit.
Materials: A packet of the "Daily Mood Form" (Handout Master A), enough for several days of recording. The duration of this activity can span past the unit duration, if desired.
Description: Give students the packet of "Daily Mood Forms" and instruct them to record their levels of affect at roughly the same time each day (before they go to bed, when they wake up in the morning, at lunch, and so on). At the end of the exercise, have the students calculate their affect scores and the frequency of their affect in the following way:
Compute a positive affect score by finding the average of the ratings for "happy," "joyful," "pleased," and "enjoyment." Compute the negative affect score by finding the average of the ratings for "depressed," "unhappy," "frustrated," "angry," and "worried." Subtract the negative score from the positive one to get a Global Daily Mood score.
To compute frequency of positive affect, the number of days in which a positive score was given is divided by the total number of days the report were made.
Discussion: If the Global Daily Mood score is greater than zero, the subject reported more positive than negative affect. If less than zero, the subject reported more negative than positive. The average frequency of positive affect among college students was 72 percent, with a range of 20 to 99 percent.
Diener and his colleagues report that frequency of positive affect scores was associated with a number of traits reflecting psychological well-being and adjustment, including high self-esteem, self-confidence, satisfaction with one's life, and cheerfulness. Other studies have found that positive affect is strongly related to the personality trait of extraversion. In contrast, negative affect is related to neuroticism, defined as the tendency to worry and become easily upset. Interestingly, these relationships were found even when the mood measures were taken a decade after the measures of personality.
Activity originally appeared in Bolt, M. (1998). Chapter 13: Emotion. Instructor's Resources to Accompany David G. Myers' Psychology, 5th Edition. 18. New York: Worth.
Activity 3.1: Satisfaction with Life Scale
Ed Diener, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Concept: The Satisfaction with Life Scale was developed to assess satisfaction with people's lives as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances, but allows subjects to integrate and weigh these domains in whatever way they choose. It is not a long measure, but the scale's validity has been tested in many settings and countries and found to be high.
sMaterials: Enough copies of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Handout Master B) for each student to have one.
Description: Hand out copies of the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Give students a few minutes to fill it out.
How to score: Students should simply add the total from their responses together to come up with their score. A score of 20 represents a neutral level of satisfaction where one is equally satisfied and dissatisfied with life.
Discussion: Satisfaction is distinct from well-being in both the areas of degree and time. Satisfaction focuses more to a person's feelings about a given goal pursuit at a given time while well-being relates to a person's feelings about many different goal pursuits across time. Students scores on the Satisfaction with Life Scale may be different depending on what they have experienced recently. Their well-being may be high, but their levels of satisfaction may fluctuate if they have experienced a blockage of goals - getting lower grades than expected, not getting into the college of their choice, or not making a team they tried out for.
Activity 4.1:Creating Flow Experiences
Amy C. Fineburg, Homewood High School, Birmingham, Alabama
Based on the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, University of Chicago
Concept: Flow is the state of optimal experiences in which one engages in activities simply for the sake of the activity itself. People whose activities are in a state of flow are using high levels of skill and challenge together to create and experience that is rich and personally beneficial. School can often be devoid of flow for many students because they are engaging in many activities for which a high level of skill and challenge are not likely to be present. This activity will help students create flow experiences in their daily lives, thus enriching their school experiences.
Materials: Transparency Masters C & D
Description:
Step 1: Prior to teaching the concepts of flow, lead students in a discussion about activities for which they have skill and enjoy the challenges involved in participation in those activities (Transparency Masters C). Brainstorm as a class about the qualities of the skillful activities to determine how and why those activities are more enjoyable.
Step 2: Following this discussion, present the qualities of flow experiences. Be sure to discuss how the activities the students listed would fall under the category of flow.
Step 3: Using Transparency Master D, brainstorm activities that do not require skill or challenge and ways to make those activities become flow experiences. Share with the students the following anecdote:
Professor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, a German experimental physicist, suffers from an occupational handicap common to academics: having to sit through endless, often boring, conferences. To alleviate this burden, he invented a private activity that provides just enough challenges for him not to be completely bored during a dull lecture, but is so automated that it leaves enough attention free so that if something interesting is being said, it will register his awareness.
What he does is this: whenever a speaker begins to get tedious, he starts to tap his right thumb once, then the third finger of the right hand, then the index finger, then the fourth finger, then the third finger again, and then the little finger of the right hand. Then he moves to the left hand and taps the little finger, the middle finger, the fourth finger, the index, and the middle finger again, and ends with the thumb on the left hand. Then the right hand reverses the sequence of the tapping, followed by the reverse of the left hand's sequence. It turns out that by introducing full and half stops at regular intervals, there are 888 combinations one can move through without repeating the same pattern (Csikszentmilhalyi 1990).
While most students may not create such elaborate games to play while listening to boring lectures, they can engage in similar routine, "microflow" activities that will bring enjoyment to otherwise low-skill and low-challenge activities. Examples of other, less complicated "microflow" experiences may include doodlling, chewing on gum or pencils or pen tops, smoothing hair, or humming a tune.
The Challenge: Once step 3 is complete, have students choose one way in which they can make a low-skill and low-challenge activity into a flow experience. During the next couple of days (instructor's choice) students should engage their "microflow" strategies during a particularly non-flow experience like a lecture. Students will write a short paper about this experience addressing the following questions:
In what "microflow" activity did you engage? In what situation was the "microflow" activity used? What were the qualities of this situation that make it a non-flow experience for you?
How did you make the "microflow" activity provide challenge for you while you were engaged in it? How could you make it provide even more challenge in the future as you become more skilled at the "microflow" activity?
How do you create flow in situations in which you are skilled?
Discussion: Most students are skilled in some activity in which they engage, but trouble arises in relatively boring situations or in situations that present a low level of challenge. "Microflow" activities help people overcome boring, tedious situations in which escape is usually impossible without consequences (like school attendance). While "microflow" types of activities help in inescapable situations, life is not enhanced by them overall. Students need complex, demanding, and high-skill activities that will produce flow and will also provide something to look forward to during boring experiences. As. Dr. Mike Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced as "Cheek-sent-me-high") says in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, "Enjoyment appears at the boundary of boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are balanced with the person's capacity to act."
Reference:
sCsikszentmihalyi, M. (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: HarperCollins.
Activity 5.1: Measuring Optimism
Martin E. P. Seligman, University of Pennsylvania
Concept: The level of optimism people possess is a predictor of depression both currently and in the future. This test of optimism will help your students see their overall levels of optimism and in which area - permanence, pervasiveness, or personal - they have more pessimistic thoughts.
Materials: Sufficient copies of the Optimism Questionnaire (Handout Master D) and the "Scoring the Optimism Questionnaire" handout (Handout Master E) so that each student has one.
Description: Instruct the students to take as much time as they need to answer each of the questions. On average, the test takes about 15 minutes to complete, so this might serve as a good homework assignment instead of completing the test in class. There are no right or wrong answers.
Discussion: Hand out the sheet "Scoring the Optimism Questionnaire." Give the students time to total their scores, and then discuss their feelings about their scores. Did they score as high or as low as they anticipated? Why or why not? In answering the questions, did they see any trends in their answers? In which areas did they score the best or worst? What can the students do with the information they learned from this exercise?
Reference:
Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (2nd. ed.). New York: Pocket Books.
Activity 5.2: Imagining Your Future: The Hope Scale
C. R. Snyder, University of Kansas
Concept: Hope is defined as the overall perception that one's goals can be met. The primary components of hope are pathways (the perceived ability to generate routes to achieve goals) and agency (the willpower or energy to get moving toward one's goals). The following activity will measure the amount of hope students possess and help them to see a relationship between their future goals and their current levels of hope.
Materials: Sufficient copies of the Goals Scale (Handout Master F) so that all students can have their own.
Description: Ask students to close their eyes and think of the future. Give them a few seconds and then ask what came to their minds and how long it took for them to picture something. Notice the quality of the goals the students have, especially whether they are intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. Discuss with the students how most people have good ideas about the goals they have for their futures. People are generally goal oriented, and those goals are usually intrinsic. Once discussion is satisfactory, pass out the Goals Scale and give the students a few moments to complete it. It is not long, so it should not take much time to complete. Once completed, instruct students on how to score the scale. The instructions are as follows:
For the agency score: Add items 2, 9, 10, and 12.
For the pathways score: Add items 1, 4, 6, and 8.
Distracters are items 3, 5, 7, and 11 to make the goal of the scale less obvious. (This section may lead to a discussion of the purpose of distracters in experimental research. Since classroom conditions are not experimental in nature, it is not the intention for students to be fooled by the distracters.)
Note: When administered, we have called this the "Goals Scale" rather than the "Hope Scale" because on some initial occasions when giving the scale, people became sufficiently interested in the fact that hope could be measured that they wanted to discuss this rather than taking the scale. No such problems have been encountered with the rather mundane "Goals Scale."
Activity originally appeared in Bolt, M. (1998). Chapter 13: Emotion. Instructor's Resources to Accompany David G. Myers' Psychology, 5th Edition. 18. New York: Worth.
Activity 6.1: A Beautiful Day: Applying Principles of Positive Psychology
Martin E. P. Seligman, University of Pennsylvania
Concept: Positive psychology seeks to understand the qualities of the good life, encompassing positive subjective experiences and the qualities that define them. This activity will challenge students to explore their own definitions of the good life as they apply the concepts studied throughout the unit.
Materials: None.
Description: After discussing the qualities of positive subjective experience and what constitutes "the good life," propose the following to the students:
Design a beautiful day (a 24-hour clock day) that is within the realm of possibility for you to live currently. Explain why you choose each element.
Have students bring in their designs for discussion. This discussion is to help the instructor be sure that the students understand what the research says about positive subjective experiences and "the good life." Once discussion has come to a satisfactory conclusion, present the following assignment to the students:
Try to live that day and report your feelings while including the following questions:
Part 1: Were you successful in living that day? Why or why not? Were all of the qualities of your beautiful day truly beautiful? Why or why not? What would you now change about your perception of a beautiful day?
Part 2: Is there any action you might take to move toward achieving a "beautiful day" on a more regular basis? How does your conception of a "beautiful day" fit in with your life's goals?
Activity 6.2: Pleasurable vs. Philanthropic Activities - Which Brings More Happiness?
Martin E. P. Seligman, University of Pennsylvania
Concept: Research on flow and optimism show that positive affect lasts longer after being engaged in rewarding yet challenging activities than in those that just bring physical or homeostatic pleasure. Students routinely engage in both types of activities, but the common belief is that pleasurable activities are more satisfying than philanthropic ones. This activity will help students become aware of their feelings in regards to these two types of activities and lead to discussion of which type of activity creates more positive affect.
Materials: None
Description: Have students brainstorm and write down what activities they have participated in during the last week that were pleasurable and philanthropic. Have them reflect on how those activities differ, how each type of activity made them feel afterward and how long those feelings lasted. After the discussion, instruct students to notice when they participate in activities that are pleasurable and/or philanthropic over the next 3 to 5 days (instructor's choice). They should address the following questions in their papers/discussion:
What were the specific differences in each type of activity?
What type of emotions did you feel during each type of activity?
How long did the generally positive emotions experienced during each type of activity remain with you afterward?
Note: Some students may not feel as though they participate in philanthropic activities. Although likely to be false, this belief may hinder students from completing this activity successfully. Some have argued that assigning philanthropy tends to neutralize the altruistic qualities of the activity, so it may be necessary to assign or suggest some simple philanthropic activities to students who have trouble with the concept. Some suggestions may include:
Helping someone younger with homework
Paying someone's toll
Holding the door open for someone behind you
Letting someone in front of you in line at a restaurant or store
Doing chores around the house that are not normally yours or that you weren't asked to do
Serving in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter
These are only suggestions and might help students more accurately recognize philanthropic activities in their lives.
Discussion: The primary difference between pleasurable and philanthropic activities centers on who is affected by the activity. Pleasurable activities benefit the self while philanthropic ones benefit others. Research on the "good life" suggests that people are happier when they are helping others rather than just benefiting the self.
SUGGESTED READING
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperCollins.
McDermott, D., & Snyder, C. R. (1999) Making hope happen: A workbook for turning possibilities into reality. Oakland: New Harbinger.
Myers, D. G. (1992). The pursuit of happiness: Discovering the pathway to fulfillment, well-being, and enduring personal joy. New York: Avon.
Myers, D. G. (2000). Research-based suggestions for a happier life. Holland, Michigan: Hope College. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on July 14, 2000 at: http://www.davidmyers.org/happiness/research.html
Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life (2nd. ed.). New York: Pocket Books.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: an introduction. American Psychologist, 55. 5-14.
Snyder, C. R. (1994) The psychology of hope. New York. Free Press.
Snyder, C. R. (2000) Handbook of hope: Theory, measures, and applications. New York: Academic Press.
REFERENCES
Baumeister, R. F., & Exline, J. J. (2000) Self-control, morality, and human strength. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 29-43.
Bolt, M. (1998). Instructor's resources to accompany David G. Myers's Psychology, 5th Edition. New York: Worth.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperCollins.
Diener, E., Horowitz, J., & Emmons, R.A. (1985) Happiness of the very wealthy. Social Indicators, 16, 263-274.
Diener, E., Suh, E. N., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.
McCullough, M. E. (2000) Forgiveness as human strength: Theory, measurement, and links to well being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 43-54.
McCullough, M. E., & Snyder, C. R. (2000) Classical sources of human strength: Revisiting an old home and rebuilding a new one. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 1-10.
McGuire, P. A. (1998, October). Seligman touts the art of arguing with yourself. APA Monitor, 29. 3 pages. Retrieved October 18, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct98/talk.html
Myers, D. G. (1993). The pursuit of happiness: Discovering the pathway to fulfillment, well-being, and enduring personal joy. New York: Avon.
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.
Saroyan, S. (1998). Happy days are here again. Elle. Retrieved October 18, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/releases/days.html
Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life (2nd ed.). New York: Pocket Books.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Positive psychology network concept paper. Philadelphia. Retrieved June 22, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/ppgrant.html
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.
Sheldon, K., Frederickson, B., Rathunde, K., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology manifesto (Rev. ed.). Philadelphia. Retrieved June 22,2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/akumalmanifesto.htm
Sigmon, S., &Snyder, C. R. (1993) Looking at oneself in a rose-colored mirror: The role of excuses in the negotiation of personal reality. In M. Lewis & C. Saarni (Eds.), Deception and lying in everyday life (pp.271-286). New York: Guilford.
Snyder, C. R. (2000) The past and possible futures of hope. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19.,11-28.
Snyder, C. R. & Clair, M. (1976) The effects of expected and obtained grades on teacher evaluation and attribution of performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 75-82.
Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570-585. Retrieved June 28, 2000 from http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~crsnyder
Tangney, J. P. (2000) Humility: Theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and directions of future research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 70-82.
Williamson, G. (1998) The central role of restricted normal activities in adjustment to illness and disability: A model of depressed affect. Rehabilitation Psychology, 43, 327-347.
Williamson, G. (2000) Extending the activity restriction model of depressed affect: Evidence from a sample of breast cancer patients. Health Psychology, 19, 339-347.